Managing Investments and Financial Portfolios

03/25/2013 13:59

With financial unrest in most of the developed nations of the world, investments are a risky, but potentially rewarding, option for an individual’s finances. If trust is put in the right financial specialist or financial company, impressive financial portfolios and earnings can be a potential outcome. For specialists that deal with multiple clients, a portfolio management system may be necessary, as financial information is sensitive and confidential to its respective client. There are a variety of programs and systems that specialize in classifying and organizing banks of financial portfolios and customer information for easy access for specialists or organizations.

For customers that have a large pool of currency to work from, hedge funds may be a viable option. A hedge fund is an actively managed investment fund that invests in a variety of different markets and stocks in order to give the customer the maximum return on their initial investment. Hedge funds can be a great asset to any investor portfolio and make portfolio management a breeze. There is no guarantee that investments will always return however, as some do inevitably fail. Potential investors should research and contact investment fund services before plunging their hard earned money into the unforgiving abyss of financial investments and stocks.

For especially wealthy investors, offshore accounts may be a viable option. They are appealing for mass amounts of money because they are usually in neutral, financially unrestricted countries that have little risk of losing or surrendering funds because of government or business sanctions. Offshore accounts are usually taxed less, or in some countries, not taxed at all, allowing maximum interest to accumulate, meaning more money in the long run. However, the IRS has noticed this increasingly popular trend among wealthy individuals and is taking new steps to monitor and potentially tax the money, regardless of where it’s deposited.

The IRS recently enacted the facta tax for wealthy offshore account holders. Facta tax basically requires individuals with offshore accounts that have a balance that exceeds a certain monetary threshold set by the IRS to report the accounts to the IRS. Facta reporting requirements are pretty straight forward: if an account holder meets the criteria put forth by the IRS, they must submit a form 8938 with their federal taxes. By disclosing the amount and location of offshore accounts, the IRS is able to tax wealthier individuals for funds that they are depositing in offshore accounts to avoid IRS detection.